


The Box

by abunchoftookas



Series: Hold Your Heart [5]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crosshair doesn't know what to do, Crosshair might have social anxiety, Echo is sad, Feels, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Pre-Relationship, clone force 99 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28220244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abunchoftookas/pseuds/abunchoftookas
Summary: "Echo didn’t know what compelled him to open it, it should have stayed buried in the past.When Rex handed Echo a sealed box with Fives neatly written across the top, Echo nearly doubled over in despair, his heart ruthlessly squeezing his chest. The words still echoed in his head, I’m so sorry Echo, Fives is gone."
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo/CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives (mentioned), CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives/CT-5385 | Tup (mentioned), Crosshair (Star Wars: The Bad Batch) & CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo
Series: Hold Your Heart [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017046
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30





	The Box

**Author's Note:**

> Some more feels - but I swear we have some fluff coming for you all in the future... eventually

Echo didn’t know what compelled him to open it, it should have stayed buried in the past. 

When Rex handed Echo a sealed box with Fives neatly written across the top, Echo nearly doubled over in despair, his heart ruthlessly squeezing his chest. The words still echoed in his head, _I’m so sorry Echo, Fives is gone_. 

Rex was sincere, reaching out to comfort him, but nothing processed. Too much had changed since the Citadel. Echo had no emotion in his voice as he asked, but Rex broke down part way through his answer. 

_Fives was investigating something dangerous. There was this kid, Tup, something happened to him and Fives- Fives was just trying to save him._ Rex was treading carefully, and Echo knew, the Captain’s voice wavering in hesitation, _Tup and Fives were together... they were expecting._

Echo’s hand drifted down, his own body a stranger. Rex left it at that, Echo not saying a word, but after several tense minutes, eventually a simple thank you. 

There was no way Fives was dead, it felt unreal. Echo couldn’t stop himself from searching the base for his cyare, scanning all the familiar, yet distant, faces of brothers, looking for the one who always stood out from the crowd with his cocky smile and swayed hips. 

Echo shoved the box in a closet in the back of the Havoc Marauder, never intending to look at it. But Echo saw him, behind every corner was him waiting, a troublesome grin widely plastered on his face, every breeze Echo could feel arms wrap around him, and in his dreams, he was just out of reach, slowly fading each night. 

It wasn’t until he woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, shaking in his skin. He was too vivid this time, pushing Echo into one of the many supply closets on the Resolute, goatee ticking Echo’s chin, but right before their lips were about to meet, Fives was ripped away. The blood rushing in his ears faded into the whirling of the Havoc Marauder's engines, the supply closet replaced by flickering red and blue lights. Silver chiaroscuro painted his face as Echo threw off his bankets, stumbling across the room and slamming the button of the closet, the door opening in a woosh. 

Now here he was, sobbing on the floor, face buried in a blue blanket. Fives’ scent was faint, but Echo was determined to take as much of that sweet, comforting smell in. He’d rather focus on the fleeting memories of cold mornings and warm nests instead of the pathetic sheet of flimsi laying on the ground. 

When he first opened the box, the black and white image sparked a glimmer of joy, but upon further inspection, a wave of emotions, not quite rage, not quite jealousy or sorrow, but somewhere in between, stirred nauseatingly in his stomach. Two distinct forms instead of one. 

They were Tup’s - _Fives’ and Tup’s._

Echo didn’t know what to think. He couldn’t blame Fives for moving on, in fact Echo was proud of him for doing so. But it hurt to not see the picture of their future that he was so proudly handed to him by Kix, Fives anxiously gripping his hand. However, Echo would never know that flimsi had never left Fives’ pocket, staying with him as he crossed into the manda. 

And Echo was trying, he wanted to make peace with the past. Tup lost both of his children just as Echo lost his. A shared empathy, a loss connecting them more than either of their love for Fives. 

Yet, the list of names, folded neatly in the bottom of the box beneath an old shirt of his, was the same, with the exception three unfamiliar, written in black ink rather than blue. It was the same list of names he and Fives had laughed and fought over in the midst of battle, in the rambunctiousness of the mess halls, in the quiet of their bed. Two were circled, one in blue ink, one in black. Echo never got the chance to name his baby, and it was pointless to do so now, but Tup’s babies didn’t pass nameless. The name in blue, Echo’s favorite, couldn’t have possibly been chosen by Fives. Echo loved his cyare, but he was terrible at handling grief, and perhaps Echo too. 

“Echo?”

The door whooped open, light falling across Echo’s hunched form. Crosshair stepped into the small space. “What are you doing in here?” 

Echo could only manage whimpers. Crosshair quickly kneeled next to him, enough to be in his sight, but hesitant to move any closer. Echo scooted back, hitting the wall behind him. The alpha’s scent was overwhelming, it smelt strange, not hostile but threatening nevertheless. Echo hid his face once more, seeking the familiarity of comfort Fives once provided. 

“Oh _Eyayah_ , shhhhh,” Crosshair tried to console him. He reached out a hand, but the omega growled a warning back. 

Crosshair looked to the bunkroom doors, debating if he should wake Hunter, or perhaps Tech, though he didn’t know how Echo would react to another alpha. 

“Echo,” he decided, “I need you to tell me what’s going on.” 

Echo remained silent, starring daggers into a picture on the floor. Crosshair picked it up, it was an ultrasound of twins. Echo’s eyes were full of pain and pity. 

“Were they yours?” Crosshair knew Echo had been pregnant, and his mate had since long passed, learning when he eavesdropped on a conversation between Hunter and the captain shortly after Echo joined. 

“No,” Echo whispered brokenly, “Tup’s.”

“Who’s Tup?” Crosshair immediately regretted asking as Echo’s face conformed, twisting in sorrow. “Oh,” he exhaled softly. 

Discomfort pressed the walls in closer. Crosshair bit his lip, chewing on the inside. He was so scared to touch Echo, having avoided the reg since his arrival.

“Is there something I could do for you?” Crosshair cringed internally. Of course there was nothing that he could do for Echo. 

“I miss him,” Echo cried. 

Crosshair pulled Echo into his arms, squeezing him lightly, projecting a comforting aura to the trembling omega.

“Shhhh, I know,” Crosshair muttered, running his hand through Echo’s hair. Echo jerked and twisted his head, confidence draining from Crosshair as he was pushed away. Crosshair opened his arms, anticipating Echo to leave, but instead Echo slouched into his lap. 

“He’s dead,” Echo whimpered, tears pouring down his face and dripping onto his hands, coloring the blanket dark blue.

“Echo… I’m so sorry.”

“I need you to tell me Fives is dead, and that he’s not coming back.” Echo grabbed Crosshair’s shirt, metal fingers digging into his ribs.

Crosshair was momentarily shocked, “I can’t do that.” 

“Please?” Echo begged, growing more frantic, “I need to hear those words.” 

“I-” Crosshair began. Echo looked so pitiful, face streaked with tears and pinched in desperation. “Okay. Fives has crossed into the _Manda_ , _nu kyr'adyc-_ ”

“- _shi taab'echaaj'la_ ,” Echo finished with him. “Thank you.” 

“Of course.” Crosshair hummed, nuzzling into Echo’s neck, subconsciously brushing his scent gland, sweet and beautiful, but full of turmoil and anguish. 

Echo eye’s began to droop, eyelids heavy and tear trails tightening on his face as they dried. His throat, raw and dry, too exhausted to cry, let alone talk. However, Crosshair was observant, slowly easing him up, his legs aching, and letting Echo lean against him when his prosthetics suddenly buckled. 

Crosshair carefully guided him back to his bed, a pull out in back of the Marauder’s main cabin, laying him down on the thin mattress, the soft fibers giving way to the hard bed beneath it. Echo pressed his face into his pillow, willing away the metal digging into his back and hips. 

Crosshair ran his hands over Echo’s prosthetics, tempted to remove them but refraining when Echo whimpered once more. He was hurt that he couldn’t help the omega, but he could still ensure Echo felt safe. He tugged the blanket out from underneath Echo, ignoring his weak growls and prying his fingers away, shook out the blanket, setting it over Echo’s body and tucking it around his sides. As Crosshair arranged the blanket around Echo’s face, he could have sworn he heard a light purr. 

Echo was in tormented bliss, the ache in his heart lessening as the smell of his past alpha lured him to sleep for the first time in years. 

**Author's Note:**

> [ Link for the artwork! ](https://an-anxious-alpaca.tumblr.com/post/638148104927035392/i-miss-him-echo-cried-crosshair-pulled-echo) Come find me on Tumblr (an-anxious-alpaca)


End file.
